David Redfern/Redferns
David Redfern/RedfernsA rare holiday record Paul McCartney made in 1965 as a Christmas gift for his three Beatles band mates has made its way to YouTube courtesy of Fab Four and Rolling Stones biographer Simon Wells.
The recording takes the form of a pirate radio broadcast and features McCartney serving as DJ while putting on a fake American accent and irreverently introducing a series of tunes. “Hello everybody,” the rock legend begins. “Welcome to Unforgettable, a program in which we hope to bring to you old songs, new songs, blue songs, green songs. Any songs you want, you name it, we’ve got it.”
McCartney goes on to play several tunes, including Nat King Cole‘s “Unforgettable,” The Beach Boys‘ “I Get Around,” Martha and the Vandellas‘ “Heatwave” and The Rolling Stones‘ “Down Home Girl.” Paul also welcomes his friend Peter Asher of the duo Peter & Gordon to introduce his “favorite blast from the past,” Elvis Presley‘s “Don’t Be Cruel.”
As the Dangerous Minds website points out, Paul told biographer Richie Unterberger in the 2006 book The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film, that only three acetates of the Unforgettable recording were made, which he presented to John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
McCartney said the record “was like a magazine program: full of weird interviews, experimental music, tape loops, some tracks I knew the others hadn’t heard, it was just a compilation of odd things.”
He added, “Unfortunately, the quality of these discs was such that they wore out as you played them for a couple of weeks…they must have worn out. There’s probably a tape somewhere, though.”
Check out the recording now on YouTube.
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